


Raw

by meltokio



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M, Pre-Established Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-29 23:29:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10864377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meltokio/pseuds/meltokio
Summary: It only takes the span of a few nights to learn of Fenris’s nightmares.





	Raw

It only takes the span of a few nights to learn of Fenris’s nightmares.

He twitches and groans and covers his face, shrinking ever smaller at her side. Hawke sleeps lightly and wakes at the first bit of commotion. She rolls over and places her arm gently over his waist only to receive an elbow to the ribs in return. Fenris is made of hard lines and the pain is sharp, the promise of a bruise throbbing under naked skin. She sits up, avoiding twitching limbs, and murmurs his name. Once, twice, then louder. She prays Brutus will not bound up the stairs, barking and ready to pull apart another burglar.

Hawke lays her fingers on his cheek, feather-soft and well away from the tender lines of lyrium. His eyes open then; wide, wild. She watches him register his surroundings, his guard lowers, and he rolls onto his back with a sigh. His disappointment is endearing and frustrating.

“Bad dream?” Her fingers card through his hair. Intimate touch is still a foreign language to him, so she is gentle and unassuming.

“I’m sorry if I woke you.” His reluctance to admit to weakness is carved in the lines across his brow. He stares at the ceiling, unyielding even in matters such as this.

“It’s all right,” she says, sliding back down into bed. She knows if she mentions the jab to her ribs he will fault himself for it. She removes her fingers from his hair and joins him in staring at the ceiling, waiting for an explanation.

None comes, though. He turns to face her, one arm folded under his head. She feels his eyes on her and she mimics his position. Fenris places one hand on her cheek and closes his eyes. “It’s easier to sleep with you here.”

There are a million layers of meaning that, after seven years, Hawke doesn’t have to sift through to find the raw definition. It had been easier to forgive him for leaving three years ago than she had thought. Fenris was not a man to mince words. He guarded every piece of himself with walls of solid rock and had allowed only Hawke a glimpse.

He smiles slightly, sleepily, and Hawke lets her eyes close.


End file.
